Sarawak's Specialty...

laksa sarawak

Sarawak, fondly known as the Land of the Head Hunters is famous for its Sarawak Laksa, a local Chinese-style vermicelli dish served hot with chicken and egg shreds, prawns and beansprouts in a bowl of spicy coconut soup cooked with tamarind. This version of laksa is very different from the curry laksa found in other Malaysian sates, thereby proclaiming the uniqueness of the Sarawak Laksa.

This delicious yet an affordable meal (RM 3.00-6.00 depending on size) is a favourite amongst the locals, and is eaten as breakfast or as a light meal throughout the day. However, you will find that most stalls stop selling laksa by noon. This is to maintain its gravy freshness...since it is mainly made of coconut milk. Laksa is conveniently available in hawker stalls or coffee shops as well as restaurants and also available even though you dined in a five star hotel in Sarawak..how fabulous!!

How old are you???

A software being developed by the University of Illinois can tell your age fairly accurately by looking at your face.The advantage of age-recognition algorithms is that could stop underage drinkers from entering bars, prevent minors from purchasing tobacco products from vending machines, and deny access of children to adult Web sites.

Estimating someone's age is not an easy task, even for a computer. That's partly because the ageing process is determined not only by a person's genetic makeup but by many other factors as well, including helath, location and living conditions

Human faces do convey a significant amount of information, however, and provide important visual cues for estimating age. Facial attributes, such as expression, gender and ethnic origin, play a crucial role in our image analysis.

Consisting of three modules : face detection, discriminative manifold learning, and multiple linear regression ,the researchers' age-estimation software was trained on a database containing photos of 1,600 faces. In addition to performing tasks such as security control and surveillance monitoring, age-estimation software also could be used for electronic customer relationship management.

young vs old

Biodiesel from Algae

Another mind boggling discovery of biotechnology…BIODIESEL from ALGAE!!!

algae

Oil-rich plants such as soy may offer a cleaner energy alternative to diesel fuel. Somehow, these food crops can’t meet all our diesel needs. Research has been made and it was found that farmers couldn’t grow enough oilseed crops to meet worldwide demand.

Fortunately, an unconventional crop could produce 100 times more biodiesel per hectare than either canola or soy. It can thrive in places where other crops can’t grow at all, and it only requires the equivalent of 5 centimeters of rain a year. It’s algae, a small but familiar plant, usually seen as a green scum that forms on ponds or aquarium glass.


Green algae is a cyanobacteria that grows in fresh water. It grows very high density. This cyanobacteria strain produces enormous amounts of fat which is up to 50 percent of its body weight. And while producing oil from soy or canola generally requires a three to five-month growing season, meanwhile some algae are so prolific, over half a batch can be harvested for oil production every day. This algae growth rate is as rapid as double or triple overnight! How amazing!

a solar car which runs using Biodiesel from algae

City in Space

Have you ever think of something beyond expectation..as in "thinking outside the world"? Haha!! Interested in exploring more of the ever mystical Milky Way? What about a visit to the Space Station? I was very impressed of this multi high-tech pit stop + work place for professionals like scientist and astronaouts...

the milky way

Well, the Space Station is a collaboration of sixteen international partners working together to create a world-class, state-of-the-art orbiting research facility. The Station will afford scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs an unprecedented platform on which to perform complex, long-duration and replicable experiments in the unique environment of space. But, the Space Station is much more than a world-class laboratory; it is an international human experiment,an exciting "city in space" which a place where we will learn how to live and work "off planet."

the international space station

The mission of the International Space Station is to enable long-term exploration of space and provide benefits to people on Earth. With six state-of-the-art laboratories, the Space Station will be the premiere research facility in space, four times larger and more capable than any previous space station. It is hoped that it will allow for advancements in medicine, technology and science. The Space Station will also serve as the gateway to new frontiers in human space exploration, a place where we can learn how to live and work "off planet.". In addition, it will allow for critical research in fluids, combustion, life support systems and the radiation environment, which is needed for future human space exploration.

the high-tech lab of the space station